Grumman TBM-3E Avenger  N9548Z                        (c/n  4503)

                                                

                                                       This Avenger was one of the almost 8,000 aircraft built by the Eastern Division of General Motors,
                                                       who produced far more of these torpedo bombers than the designer, Grumman, did.   Most of the
                                                       civilian TBMs were employed as water bombers in their heyday.   My shot, taken at Long Beach in
                                                       1964 shows the above example whilst it was with Rector Air Service as tanker number E76.  It was
                                                       then operated by a number of different fire fighting outfits and suffered a wheels up landing in the
                                                       brush at Columbia, California in 1973.  It was eventually repaired and is now part of the Kermit
                                                       Weeks collection in Tamiami, Florida.